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CSE115Lecture17FileProcessing_3044331

The document discusses file processing in C, explaining how files are viewed as streams of bytes and how to manipulate them using functions from the standard library <stdio.h>. It covers file opening, modes, reading from and writing to files, and handling errors when opening files. Additionally, it provides examples of using functions like fopen(), fclose(), fscanf(), fprintf(), feof(), and fgets() for file operations.

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2 views

CSE115Lecture17FileProcessing_3044331

The document discusses file processing in C, explaining how files are viewed as streams of bytes and how to manipulate them using functions from the standard library <stdio.h>. It covers file opening, modes, reading from and writing to files, and handling errors when opening files. Additionally, it provides examples of using functions like fopen(), fclose(), fscanf(), fprintf(), feof(), and fgets() for file operations.

Uploaded by

omeojahin
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Lecture 17

File Processing
CSE115: Computing Concepts
Files and Streams
● C views a file as a sequential stream of bytes.
● A file ends with EOF (end-of-file) marker
● When a file is opened, a stream is associated with a file.
● Streams provide communication channels between files and
the programs.

H E L L O W O R L . . . . . EOF
Files and Streams
● In addition to providing access to a file, a stream can also be
used to access devices.
● For example, when a program (any program) is executed, 3
streams are automatically opened:
● standard input (stdin)
●enable the program to read data from keyboard
● standard output (stdout)
●enable the program to print data on the screen
● standard error (stderr)
●enable program to print errors on the screen
● They are all manipulated using file pointers.
Declaring a file
● The standard library <stdio.h> provides some of the file
manipulation function.
● Declaring file:
FILE *file1, *file2;
● States that file1 is a pointer variable that points to a file structure
● If there is more than one file, each file needs to have its own FILE
pointer.
File operation: fopen()
● Before we can process a file, we must either open or create it.
● Syntax for fopen( ):
file_pointer_name = fopen(file_name, OpenMode);
● The fopen() function takes 2 arguments: the file name and
the file mode.
File operation: fopen()
● Example:
FILE *the_file;
the_file = fopen("my_file.txt","r");

● This statement will try to open a file called “my_file.txt”.


● my_file.txt is the file name referring to a phisycal file on
the disk.
● If the file is to be placed in a different directory than the
program directory, the full path need to be specified. For
example: “D:\codes\my_file.txt”
● The function returns a pointer to the successfully
opened file. But if the file cannot be opened, a NULL is
returned.
File OpenMode:
● The following is the list of open mode that can be associated with
fopen( ).
● “r” : to open existing file in input mode so data can be read from
it. The file to be opened must exist physically on disk for this
open mode to be successful.
● “w” : the file is intended to be an output file and we are planning
to write data to it.
● “a” : to append data to the end of existing file.
● “r+” : to open existing file for update (both in input and output
mode). If the file already exist, the content is not destroyed.
● “w+” : destroy the file if already exist and open a new file for
update.
● “a+” : open file for update (adding data at the end of the file.
fopen()
● You could also ask the users to specify the name of the file s/
he want to open.
● Example:
char filename[50];
FILE *the_file;
printf("Enter file name: ");
gets(filename);

the_file = fopen(filename,"r");

● The users must enter the full path of the file, including the
extension (.txt, .doc etc).
File operation: failed fopen()
● If fopen() returns a NULL value, it means that fopen() has
failed.
● This is due to any of the following reasons:
●Opening a non-existing file for reading
●Opening a file for reading or writing without having granted the
appropriate access to the file by the operating system.
●Opening a file for writing when no disk space is available.
● Therefore, in our program, we need to write statements that
would handle this failure.
File operation: fclose()
● Syntax for fclose( ):
fclose(file_pointer_name);
● Closes the file associated with file_pointer_name.
Example
#include <stdio.h>
int main()
{
FILE *fp;

fp = fopen("myFile.txt","r");
if(fp == NULL)
printf("The file is not there.");
else
{
printf("File successfully opened.");
fclose(fp);
}
return 0;
}
fscanf()
● fscanf() reads a value, or values of mix data type from a file.
● Syntax:
fscanf(file_pointer_name, formatControl, variableList);

● Example:
char name[50];
int age;
fscanf(theFile, “%s %d”, name, &age);
fprintf()
● fprintf() prints values to the file
● Syntax:
fprintf(file_pointer_name, formatControl, variableList);
● Example 1:
fprintf(theFile, “This is an example”);
● Example 2:
char name[50] = “Ahmad”;
fprintf(theFile, “Name: %s”, name);
● Example 3:
char str[10] = “Two”;
int a = 2;
fprintf(theFile, “%d %s”, a, str);
feof()
● int feof(FILE *stream) tests the end-of-file indicator for the given stream.
● Returns: a non-zero value when End-of-File indicator is found (e.g. when everything in the
file has already been read), otherwise returns 0

● Example:
#include <stdio.h>
int main ()
{
FILE *fp;
int c;
fp = fopen("file.txt","r");
if(fp == NULL) {
printf("Error in opening file"); return(-1);
}
while(1) {
c = fgetc(fp);
if( feof(fp) )
break;
printf("%c", c);
}
fclose(fp);
}
fgets()
● fgets() reads a string of characters from a file.

● Syntax:
fgets(stringVariable, size, file_pointer_name);

● Example:
char content[50];
fgets(content, 50, theFile);

● fgets() will read one line or size – 1 characters (wchichever comes first)
from the file pointed by theFile, and saves the string into variable content.
fgets() Example
#include <stdio.h>
int main ()
{
FILE *fp;
int c;
char content[50];

fp = fopen("file.txt","r");
if(fp == NULL) {
printf("Error in opening file"); return(-1);
}
while(1) {
fgets(content, 50, fp);//read a line
if( feof(fp) )
break;
printf("%s", content);
}
fclose(fp);
}

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